23–25.05.2014

Focusing on Katowice Special Economic Zone, we will use data to show the different angles of the story and produce a full-fledged piece of datajournalism. In groups of 3 or 4, participants will treat a specific aspect of the story using one or two techniques of datajournalism. Putting everything together at the end will make the big picture appear.

Participants will learn how to conduct a project of datajournalism, i.e. apply the concepts of the scientific method on deadline, in a team. They’ll also learn and review several tools from the datajournalist’s toolbelt.

Several days before the workshop: Skype conference (7th of May, 6pm GMT+1)and email discussion to determine the precise topic of the investigation and prepare the groups based on everyone’s skills.

During the workshop: In small groups of 3 or 4 persons, the participants will explore a specific angle in depth. They will set up a methodology and formulate a hypothesis (e.g. “we think that this problem exists because of XYZ”), find a way to measure the problem, gather data to measure it, analyze the data and produce a write-up and visualisation of the outcome. The moderator will help the participants organize their work and present tools and examples from which to draw inspiration.

The workshop is for anyone who likes to play with data. Although no specific skills are needed, familiarity with spreadsheets helps. Participants should have a laptop with admin privileges and a modern browser.

Nicolas Kayser-Bril, 28, is CEO and co-founder of Journalism++, an agency for data-driven stories. Before founding Journalism++ in late 2011, Nicolas was in charge of datajournalism at OWNI, where he led several experiments in crowdsourced data gathering. A self-taught programmer and journalist, Nicolas holds a degree in Media Economics.